Noncorroding valve



May 5, vl. c. F. H. BOHNHARDT ET AL NONCORRODINQ VALVE ....LMMMMUMMMN s raya li i' TTORNEJ/ Patented May ,5, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i CHARLESF. E. BOHNHARDT`AND BRUNO F. BOIHNHARDT, F LYNWOOD, CALIFORITIA NoNconRonING VALVE Application led March 14, 1927. Serial No. 175,085.

ing and to a tight closure of said valve, to permit or to prevent advance of a fluid therethrough, but with means whereby said valve 'seat or valve seats are protected from abrasion and/or corrosion, regardless of whether an interior valve organization occupies a flowpreventing or a flow-permitting position; and, in preferred embodiments of our inven-y tion, a main casting or body being preferably provided with separately removable top and /or bottom closure elements, one or both of said closure elements may advantageously be provided with a stop or stops, engageable by a shiftable unit or units, to produce a wedg ing engagement whereby said shiftable unit or units are pressed toward a valve seat or seats, to protect the same.

It is a matter of common observation that although valves may undergo little deterioration so long as they remain closed, the maintenance of ordinary valve elements in an open position commonly results in erosion and/or corrosion of seats or closure elements,-so that, when an effort is made to prevent flow therethrough, in case of fire or other emer- 0 gency, said valves will not close satisfactorily; and it is a general object of our invention to provide valvesjn which valve seats and/or closure elements may be protected at all times,-regardless of whether the air 5 valves be normally kept open or normally kept closed; and, in preferred embodiments of our invention, a wedging action between mutually shiftable complement-al units may be effective so to protect the opposing faces of oppositely disposedvalve seats and closure elements therefor that no appreciable leakage of fluid need result from the withdrawal of a plug or from the removal of an end plate or plates from our valves while a fluid be advancing therethrough.

Gther objects of our invention` including the provision of removable interior guides, obviating the necessity for expensive machine work upon the interior of the mentioned main body or casting (one ofa pair of oppositely disposed guide elements being preferably retained by a seat element and the opposite guide element being preferably formed integral with a seat element and provided with a ball-ground surface) and including also the use of a valve organization which comprises counterpart shiftable units (each comprising a closure section and an apertured section and each provided also with wedge surfaces and with means limiting the play therebetween) may be best appreciated from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of our invention, taken in connection with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a` substantially median sectional view, taken in the plane of the longitudinal aXi-s of a passage through a valve embodying our invention,-parts of an interior organization being shown as occupying a. closed position.

Fig. 2 is a View similar to Fig. 1, but showing the interior valve organization as shifted to an open position.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View, taken substantially as indicated by thebroken line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail view, corresponding to a right central portion of Fig. 1, and showing, on an enlarged scale, a preferred type of joint between a guide plate providing a valve seat and a socket element in which the same may be positioned` in a self-centering manner.

Referring to the details of that specific embodiment of our invention chosen for purposes of illustration, 11 may be .a main casting constitutinga valve body,-this body being shown as integral with tubular portions 12, 12', terminating inflanges 13, 13 (whereby said body may be interposed in a pipe line, in a known manner) and a chamber 14, provided by said body, is shown as closed by a bottom plate v15 and al top plate 16,-the latter being shown as integral with an upstanding member 17,.which comprises a yoke 18, and both said top plate and said yoke being apertured to receive a valve operating rod 19, shown as surrounded by a, gland 20.

One or both of the tubular portions 12, 12 may be provi ed with an integraler remova able valve seat,-an exteriorly threaded seat element 21 being shown as provided not only, With a Hat face 22, engageable by any suitable closure element, but with a ccmcal or i convex rear surface 23, adapted to engage \a guide element 24 and to retain the same in a plane substantially parallel with the longitudi'nal axis of the slidable valve operating rod 19, or its equivalent.

alent, we may dispose a shiftable valve unit 25, shown as comprising a closure section 26 and an apertured sectionl 27,-the mentioned closure section being shown as provided with a slight depression at 28, surrounded by a at area 29 adapted to engage the at surface 22 of the seat element 21, and an aperture through the section 27 being surrounded by an annular area 30 constituting a continuati'on of said flat surface; and,vin order that an axial movement of the slidable rod 19, or its equivalent, after shifting the unit from one illustrated position to another, in a plane parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rod 25 19, shall be effective to advance said unit, by a movement substantially at right angles to the shifting referred to, (to force either the annular flat area 29er the annular ilat area 30 tightly against the annular fiat surface 30 22 of the seat 21), I may provide the unit 25 with inclined surfaces such as are shown at 31 and 32, and I may dispose in operative relationship with the unit 25 a complemental unit 25'. To this last-mentioned slidable 35 unit the rod 19 may be secured .by means such as a pin 33, extending through a reduced terminal portion 34 of said rod and through an apertured portion 35 of said unit,-the latter being shown as provided with inclined or wedge surfaces 31 and 32', respectively corresponding in inclination with the mentioned surfaces 31 and 32, but so cut as to permit a Opposite the guide plate 24, or its equivto force the respective units outward, in such manner that the mentioned flat annular areas thereonshall protect the seats 22 and/or 22', I may provide (as, upon one or both of the end plates 15, 16) stop elements such as are suggested at'39 and 40. L

Except that the guide plate 24 is preferably so formed as to include the ats'eat 22', both of the mentioned plates may advantageously ,have substantially the) general outline shown in Fig. 2,-although only the unit 25, indirectly manipulated in the described manner, need be provided with stop-engaging lingers 41, 42,; and in order to obviate necessity for too much accuratel machine work within the body 11, or'its equivalent, the ,plate 24', when VJformed separate, maybe provided with a limited relative longitudinal movement be-' tween the units 25 and 25. l J Our invention being shown as embodied Iin a so-called gate valve, in order to obtain not only satisfactory guidance but the advantages of a so-called double gate, we may provide a second guide element 24 with a fiat inner surface including a sea-t area 22' surrounding an opening 21'; and we may provide this complemental unit 25', or its equivalent,'with not onlyl` a depression 28 surrounded by an annular flat area 29 but with 55 an aperture 27' surrounded by an annular Hat area 30', continuous with the lat area 29' and parallel with the surfaces 29 and 3() upon the shiftablennit 25, or its equivalent.

In order resilient-ly to press the units 25 69 and 25 lightly inl opposite directions toward the respective seats 22 and 22', chambering 'these units by the cutting of circular or other vdepressions 36, 36' therein, we may. dispose Within the central space so provided a resilient element such as a compression spring 37,

ball-ground or other convex inner surface,

as at 43, adapted to intertit with a surface 44 wit-hin a similarly ground or conically con- 'cave socket element 45 (shown as retained in the body 11 by a threaded engagementat 46) the result being that the plate 24' is adapted automatically to-center itself in a plane accurately parallel with the plate 24.

In use, assuming that the rod 19 is not swiveled to either of the interfitting units 25, 25', a nut element v47 being positioned` above or below the yoke 18, or its equivalent, and preferably provided with lmanipulating means such as a hand vwheel 48 (shown as retained'by a subsidiary nut 49) it will be understood that whenever the rod 19, or its equivalent,is forced inward, so long as fingers 41 engage stops 39, a wedging action between the inclined faces 32 and 32' is effective tightly to press the closure sections 26 and 26' against the seat faces 22, 22', thereby protecting the same while the valve remains closed; and, whenever an opposite or x retractive movement of the rod 19, or its equivalent, brings the lingers 42 into engagement with stops 40, or theirequivalent, an analogous engagement between the wedge faces 31 and 31 is eifect'ive, at the time the openings 27 and 27' are brought into concentric relationship with one another and with the passages 12, 12', to hold the alternative' protective areas 30, 30' tightly against the seat surfaces 22,

22',- thereby obviating wear or corrosion even while our described valve stands wide open. At such times, it will be noted that the surfaces 29,29' are also protected by engagesociated guide elements, an interior organi- Lacasse through our valved organization is of such character as appreciably to cut or corrode any exposed surfaces, our valves will be found capable of efficient action even after they have been left wide open for long periods of use;

'and it willbe noted, asc an important merit one or both of the bottom and top plates (15 and/or 16) even while our valves stand wide en. Although we have herein described a single complete embodiment of our invention, it should be understood not only that various features of this invention might be independently employed but also that numerous alternative embodiments thereof might be devised by those skilled 'in the arts to which this case relates, without involving the slightest departure from the spirit and scope of our invention, as the same is indicated above andl in the following claims.

lWe claim as our invention:

1.' In a valve of the general character described: a main body providing'a passa-ge for the advance ofa fluid; a seat element `secured therein; an interior organization shift-l able within' said body between a. iow-obstr uctng position and a flow-permitting position relativelyto said seat; and means for shifting said' interior organization relatively to said seat,fsaid interior organization comprising a plurality 4of shiftable units each provided with a closure section and with an apertured section and each provided with a wedge face, resilient means beingA interposed between said units.

2 In a valve of the general character described, a main body providing passages for the advance of fluid; oppositely disposed seat elements therein; said seats comprising aszation shiftable between said guide elements within said body between a flow obstructing position and a iiow permitting position re1- atively to'said seat elements; means forl shiftingy said interior organization between said guide elements relatively to said seat ele- 3. In a valve of the general character described: a main body providing a passage for the advance of a iiuid; a seat element secured therein; an interior organization shiftable Within said body between a How-obstructing position and aow-perniitting position relatively to said seat; and means for shifting said interior organization relatively to said seat, said interior organization comprising a plurality of shiftable units, each provided with a closure section and with an aperturedl section and with corresponding wedge. faces, resilient means being interposed between said one of said units during shifting to set up a Wedging action therebetween.

4. In aivalve of the general character describedwa mainbody providing a passage for the advance of a fluid; a seat element secured therein; an interior organization shiftable within said body between a flow-obstructing position and a flow permitting position relatively tol said seat; and means for shifting said interior organization relatively to said seat, said interior organization comlunits, and stop means arranged to engage,

prising a plurality ofk shiftable units, each provided with a closure section and with an apertured section, and each provided with a pair of corresponding wedge faces, said faces being arranged to set up a wedging action between said units when the same one -of said `units is stoppedin either direction of said units for shifting said interior organization relative to said seat; and means for stopping the other of said units'during shifting' in either direction -to set up a wedging action between said units at a flow-obstructing or a flow-permitting position.

In testimony whereof, we havehereunto Yset our hands at Los Angeles, California, 4

this 4th day of March, 1927.

CHARLES FL H. BOHNHARDT. BRUNO F. BLOHNHRDT.

ments, and one of said seat elements being i provided -with vball ground surface to allow movement of its associated face, said member being screw-threadedly fixed in one of said passages. 

